Archive for 2015

Social Work Exam Quiz: Name That Psychotherapy

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Social Work Exam Quiz: Name That Psychotherapy
Here's another in our series of quizzes designed to help you get prepped for the social work licensing exam. Here, we've listed several entries from Wikipedia's long list of psychotherapies and the descriptions linked there.Your job: Name that psychotherapy!

Good luck. Answers are in comments.


1.__________________ is a philosophical method of therapy that operates on the belief that inner conflict within a person is due to that individual's confrontation with the givens of existence.

2.__________________ is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation.

3.__________________ is a structured, short-term, present-oriented psychotherapy for depression, directed toward solving current problems and modifying dysfunctional thinking and behavior.[

4.__________________ is a goal-directed collaborative approach to psychotherapeutic change that is conducted through direct observation of clients' responses to a series of precisely constructed questions. [This therapy] focuses on addressing what clients want to achieve exploring the history and provenance of problem(s).

5.__________________ (known by several names)  provides clients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self where they can realize how their attitudes, feelings and behavior are being negatively affected. [This therapy] maintains that there are several necessary and sufficient conditions required for therapeutic change. Among these are therapist genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding

How'd you do? Answers in comments. Stay tuned for more exam-prep friendly quizzes. Good luck on the exam!

Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Social Work Exam

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Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Social Work Exam
Among the big changes in DSM-5 is the arrival of a new diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder. Exam prepping? It's probably wise to get this new diagnosis a little understood. It's a bright shiny object, likely irresistible to exam writers penning the first couple of waves of DSM-5-based licensing exams.

Wikipedia summarizes:
The new diagnosis encompasses previous diagnoses of autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and PDD-NOS. Rather than categorizing these diagnoses, the DSM-5 will adopt a dimensional approach to diagnosing disorders that fall underneath the autism spectrum umbrella. It is thought that individuals with ASDs are best represented as a single diagnostic category because they demonstrate similar types of symptoms and are better differentiated by clinical specifiers (i.e., dimensions of severity) and associated features (i.e., known genetic disorders, epilepsy and intellectual disability). An additional change to the DSM includes collapsing social and communication deficits into one domain. Thus, an individual with an ASD diagnosis will be described in terms of severity of social communication symptoms, severity of fixated or restricted behaviors or interests and associated features. The restriction of onset age has also been loosened from 3 years of age to "early developmental period", with a note that symptoms may manifest later when demands exceed capabilities.
Everything else you need to know--and lots more--available at these sites (and many others);

Walking Through DSM-5

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Walking Through DSM-5
You can dive in and wade through the hundreds of pages of details in DSM-5 as you're preparing for the social work exam. It's probably more effective to take a quick stroll through the essentials. Just tiptoe through the diagnoses. To make that simpler, consider using the short Desk Reference version of DSM-5 for exam prepping. The big DSM-5 is just too much to digest. And the level of detail that lies within it is generally beyond what you're expected to have grasped come exam day.
To get and stay extra up on DSM-5 changes and exam-likely diagnoses, the web is there to help. We've linked to these helpful sites before:
Prefer an easy guided tour through what you need to know? Take a look at SWTP's helpful unfolding series of posts detailing DSM-5 diagnoses and the big changes from DSM-IV-TR. What's ASD, AUD, DMDD...? Answers there.

Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

California Here I (the ASWB Exam) Come

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California Here I (the ASWB Exam) Come
It's happening. As of January 1st, 2016, the ASWB is the national social work exam. No more, "everywhere but California." Golden Staters aiming to get their LCSW will soon be taking the clinical exam just like social workers from Maine to Washington to Minnesota to Texas (and everywhere in between). So, welcome to the party Californians!

Californians still get to claim a little difference and specialness because in addition to the ASWB clinical exam, they have to (get to!) take a California Law & Ethics exam in order to make it to licensure. Everyone else can tune out about now, but Californians, take note: The BBS has just published details about what the Law & Ethics exam will consist of in a handy eleven-page outline.

What's on there? The same law and ethics material, more or less, that appeared on the CA Standard Written exam. Only now, you'll be facing an exam that's wall-to-wall law and ethics. That means confidentiality, consent, mandated reporting, scope of practice, record keeping...all that stuff (and lots more). Take a look at the outline, take a breath, and get studying. You'll be through it before you know it.

Good luck, Californians. And again, welcome!
DSM-5, the Slide Show

DSM-5, the Slide Show

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On the lookout for different ways to get all necessary social work licensing exam information into your head? Already using podcasts, practice tests, textbooks, and Pinterest charts? Here's another source of info--DSM-5 info in this case: the collection of DSM-5 slides on SlideShare. Different slide-makers have stressed different aspects of the changes between DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5. Most have covered the essentials. So, pick your patience level, and get clicking through. You never know what vital tidbit you'll pick up.

The first here zips through in 30 slides; the second ambles through in 81. But just think, speed read 81 slides and you're that much more prepared for the exam. Or, at very least, somewhat clearer about what you don't know.

Learning DSM-5

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DSM-5 has arrived. Now that the change has happened on the ASWB exam, time to buckle down and learn the thing. As ever, the web is eager to help out. We've already linked to these info-filled pages:
But maybe you don't feel like reading. Okay, here's SWTP's DSM-5 YouTube collection. Includes lots of different people going over lots of DSM-5 facts. Also take a look at this webinar series from Magellan Healthcare. It's dry as dry toast, but seems to cover everything. Also, coming up later this month--for NASW members only--here's a lunchtime webinar.

There are plenty more presentations out there, not all of them free. If you find something and like it, please share in comments. In the meantime, happy DSM-5 learning!

Farewell, DSM-IV-TR

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This day in history, the last time DSM-IV-TR appears on the social work licensing exam. Will you miss it?

Mark the moment with a song, or a drink, or just ignore it. Any of those will do. Love it or hate it, if you prepared for the ASWB exam using the big, gray DSM, you're not likely to forget it. Farewell, DSM-IV-TR.

Countdown to DSM-5

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Here it comes. The moment DSM-5 becomes the book of record on the ASWB exam is upon us (July 1st, 2015). This is years in the making (if you count all the endless meetings and negotiations over at the APA). Finally, grey cedes to purple, Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV) give way to Hindu-Arabic ones (5, 6, 7, 8...), and, of course, there's what's inside. That's the stuff you have to know for the social work exam. The disappearance of the five axis system...of the NOS specifier...the appearance of autism sprectrum disorder and others.

Have a couple of hours to spare? Here's part one of a lecture summarizing the changes Aaron Norton at University of South Florida:

 

Faster to just read up? Probably. Here are some starter links:

Enjoy!

How to Pass the LMSW Exam

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How do you pass the LMSW exam? Here's one, good, thorough answer from Nicole Clark on her blog. The post is called, fittingly enough, "Ask Nicole: How Did You Pass the LMSW Exam on Your First Try?" Here are the bullet points--do's and don'ts--which echo much of what we've been saying here. Our quick reaction/summary follows each:
  • Do know the NASW Code of Ethics (yes!)
  • Do take practice exams (she likes SWTP)
  • Do figure out how you like to retain information (she used a brainwave app)
  • Do take study breaks (research says so)
  • Do a trial run (if you've got the time and some anxiety to burn off, can help)
  • Do find ways to relieve stress (please do!)
  • Do know your acronyms (she means FAREAFI and AASPIRINS--sometimes helpful, sometimes not)
  • Don’t tell (many) people you’re taking the exam (good idea to reduce felt pressure)
  • Don’t pull out your class books (depends upon the class books, though, doesn't it? what about a textbooky textbook like Hepworth, Rooney, and Larson?)
  • Don’t answer exam questions based on what you’d do at your agency (yes! be the ideal, in-a-vacuum, textbook social worker)
All of the above applies to the LCSW exam and other ASWB exams, of course. More details within the post. Have at it!
Free ASWB Exam Help

Free ASWB Exam Help

2:56 AM 0
If there's one major theme on these pages, it's that you can prepare for the social work licensing exam without spending an amount of money you're going to regret. It used to be exam prep could cost hundreds of dollars. That paid for audio CDs, for thick volumes of materials, and for practice exams. Now, with all the free resources on the web, that's just not the case. Audio comes free via a variety of amazing podcasts. Books full of info are made more-or-less obsolete by sites you know well, such as Wikipedia. There are lots of free practice exam questions scattered around the web, and if you want to take full-length real-time practice exams (recommended), it can cost as little as twenty-something dollars per complete exam (that's the case, at least, with SWTP's exams purchased with the bundle discount or with a coupon code).

Here are some of the sites mentioned above--and a couple of others for your clicking, studying, passing pleasure:

The Social Work Podcast

Social Work Test Prep

Portal:Psychology - Wikipedia

inSocialWork Podcast Series - UB Social Work

Psychology Basics 101

Social Work Today - Eye on Ethics:

Code of Ethics - National Association of Social Workers

Good luck with the exam!

Social Work Exam and Culture: Maladi Moun

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Continuing with DSM-5's culture-bound syndromes, here's maladi moun.

Here's a definition from Medscape:
Aka "humanly caused illness" found in Haitian communities, is seen as an explanation for a number of medical and psychiatric symptoms. It is thought that illness is literally "sent" by others out of envy and hatred and can describe psychosis, depressive symptoms, and even academic or social problems.
There are other, similar conditions, per the World Health Org:
Haitians divide illnesses into several broad categories, including: maladi Bondye (God’s disease, or those of “natural” origin), maladi peyi (“country”, or common, short-term ailments), maladi moun fè mal (magic spells sent because of human greed), and those of supernatural origin, maladi lwa (‘disease of God’) and maladi Satan (Satan’s or “sent” sicknesses)  
The Dictionary of Psychology entry on the topic is here. As of this writing, that about does it for what the web has to offer. But it should be more than enough to field a question about maladi moun on the social work licensing exam. Good luck!

Social Work Exam and Culture: Kufungisisa

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Continuing our series profiling the cultural concepts of distress included in DSM-5. Next up, Kufungisisa. Here's a quick summary, helpfully posted on Facebook:
Kufungisisa, or "thinking too much," a disorder of distress reported by the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The term represents both a cause of conditions akin to anxiety and depression (eg, "my heart is painful because I think too much") as well as an idiom of psychosocial stressors, such as financial or marital problems. Symptoms can overlap with several DSM diagnoses, including anxiety, panic disorders, and depression. Ruminations and somatic symptoms may be addressed with cognitive-behavioral psychotherapeutic approaches; otherwise, standard treatments for anxiety or depression can be tried.
 More from details around the web:

Social Work Exam and Culture: Khyâl Cap

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Continuing to survey the nine cultural concepts of distress listed in DSM-5. Here's Khyâl cup (or Khyâl Attack). Here's a quick definition adapted from the slideshow below.
A syndrome found among Cambodians in the U.S. and Cambodia. Common symptoms include those of panic attacks, such as dizziness, palpitations, shortness of breath, and cold extremities. Catastrophic cognitions center on the concern that kyaal (a wind-like substance) may rise in the body and cause dangerous effects (eg lung compression, asphyxia).
Here's the full definition and a the complete list of nine via kyalattack.com:


More about Khyâl cap at these links (but not, for the moment, at Wikipedia):

Social Work Exam and Culture: Dhat Syndrome

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Next up in our survey of culture-specific mental health complexes: Dhat Syndrome. Wikipedia summarizes:
Dhat syndrome is a condition found in the cultures of the Indian subcontinent in which male patients report that they suffer from premature ejaculation or impotence, and believe that they are passing semen in their urine.
Simple as that. Good to know for practice, and possibly for the social work licensing exam.
 
More on dhat syndrome from around the web:

Socal Work Exam and Culture: Ataque de Nervios

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The DSM-5 takes a new approach to culture-specific syndromes. But the content is the same. Here's a first in a series to get you up to speed on these syndromes, regardless of which DSM you're using for the exam. First, ataque de nervios. This is from the APA:
Ataque de nervios (“attack of nerves”) is a syndrome among individuals of Latino descent, characterized by symptoms of intense emotional upset, including acute anxiety, anger, or grief; screaming and shouting uncontrollably; attacks of crying; trembling; heat in the chest rising into the head; and becoming verbally and physically aggressive. Dissociative experiences (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, amnesia), seizure-like or fainting episodes, and suicidal gestures are prominent in some ataques but absent in others...
Want more than that? Try:

Culture in DSM-5

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What's happened with culturally-bound symptoms in DSM-5? For one thing, they're now called "cultural concepts of distress." And they've been, to some extent, integrated into the main body of the DSM. Here's how the APA explains it in a pdf-only bulletin:
Rather than a simple list of culture-bound syndromes, DSM-5 updates criteria to reflect cross-cultural variations in presentations, gives more detailed and structured information about cultural concepts of distress, and includes a clinical interview tool to facilitate comprehensive, person-centered assessments...
Throughout the DSM-5 development process, the Work Groups made a concerted effort to modify culturally determined criteria so they would be more equivalent across different cultures. In Section II, specific diagnostic criteria were changed to better apply across diverse cultures. For example, the criteria for social anxiety disorder now include the fear of "offending others" to reflect the Japanese concept in which avoiding harm to others is emphasized rather than harm to oneself.
(Here's the complete bulletin, cached by Google.) So can you still expect to see culture-bound cultural concepts on the exam? Yes. They're still relevant as ever (and useful to exam writers faced with coming up with Effects of Diversity items). Here's the APAs DSM-5 list:
  • Ataque de nervios
  • Dhat syndrome
  • Khyâl cap
  • Kufungisisa
  • Maladi moun
  • Nervios
  • Shenjing shuairuo
  • Susto
  • Taijin kyofusho
Knowing the ins and outs of each is probably not necessary. Just being able to ID them as relevant culturally-specific diagnostic information should get you close to the correct answers if not all the way through the exam. If you want to get more familiar with them, Wikipedia awaits (with the old DSM-IV list). Enjoy.

(Note: If you're taking the ASWB exam before July, '15, ignore the DSM-5 parts of this post. The exam will still feature DSM-IV-TR questions till mid-summer.)

DSM-5 and the Social Work Exam

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It's 2015, the year that exam preppers bid adieu to DSM-IV-TR. Which version of the DSM should you be studying? Depends upon when you're taking the exam. The BBS in California has already switched to DSM-5. Everyone else, taking the ASWB exam, waits till July for the big switch. After July, it's all DSM-5 all the time for social work licensing test takers.

So, if you're going to be ready soon to take the big test, how to proceed? Should you get the exam over with using DSM-IV-TR, which you may already have a decent handle on from putting it to use in practice? Or should you delay your exam till July, learn DSM-5, and move forward, licensed and versed in the latest manual.

Hmmm...?

It's a question you'll have to answer for yourself. Seems it would depend upon your particular time pressure, planned study duration, and other personal details. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. It may help you to browse DSM-5 changes--what really is are the differences?

Here are some good places to begin to get a sense of what's what:
Whatever you choose, good luck studying, and good luck with the exam!

The Stages of Change and the Social Work Exam

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The Stages of Change are pretty likely to show up on the social work licensing exam. They're probably already turning up in your licensing exam prep. Where are you in your quest for licensure? Here are the Stages of Change applied to the exam-prep process.

--Precontemplation (Not ready for change): Not thinking about the social work exam. Can't be, you're reading this!

--Contemplation (Getting ready for change): Poking around the edges of exam prep, unsure. Could be you!

--Preparation (Ready for change; sometimes called "Determination"): Change is coming soon. Reading a blog or two, checking out different social work exam programs, etc.

--Action (Like it sounds): Underway studying, taking practice exams...on it.

--Maintenance (Sustained action): Continuing action as test day approaches. If that's you, congratulations! It's only a matter of time...

For more on the Stages of Change, here's some reading and listening.
 Good luck on progressing through your exam-prep stages and good luck on the exam!

Social Media and Social Work

6:06 AM 0
Imagine you're an exam item writer. You've got to generate a certain number of questions and answers on a deadline. You take a break and check your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You return to your work and think, what should I write this next question about? Maybe social work and social media!

This scenario doesn't have to ring true for it to be worth your time to give some thought to the intersection of social media and social work. How can social workers best navigate all the newish decisions regarding relationships with client outside of the professional space. What information is okay to include in email? How do you respond if a client asks to be friends on Facebook? Or a former client wants to connect on LinkedIn? What if that former client regularly refers people to the social worker's practice? What if a client writes a review on Yelp that includes criticism of the social worker never mentioned in session?

Knowing how to respond to these questions is tricky, whether they come up in real life or on the social work licensing exam. Happily--though the NASW Code of Ethics hasn't directly addressed social media issues as of this writing--there is reading and listening to do that will help you figure out BEST answers for the exam and for your social work career.

Here, two articles and a podcast on the topic worth checking out:
Get those skimmed and you're well on your way to being an ethical social work social media user and exam passer! Here's a really quick summary: Don't engage with clients on social media. Avoid dual relationships. Respect privacy. Got it? Great! Good luck!
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